Building Our Bridges
by wintersayshi
Summary: Grace Parker hadn't seen her father Greg in years. Grace and her twin brother Dean had been estranged from their father for years. But after coming to Toronto briefly see their father, Grace is touched by her father's efforts to reconnect with the two of them and willing to take a chance Grace and Dean eventually decide to move back home to try and be a family once again.
1. Chapter 1

_Dear Gracie,_

_How are you sweetheart? I miss you. I miss you and your brother every single day Grace and the two of you are never far from my thoughts. I know you may find that hard to believe as the memories you have of me are barely existent as I was always preoccupied with work to be the proper father and husband I should have been. I also know that if I wasn't working then I was drinking. I was so caught up in all my problems that I lost sight of what was the most important to me; my family. For that I am sorry Grace, I am terribly so sorry as I should have never exposed you and your brother to that. The two of you and your mom deserved better than that. I hope you and Dean are doing well and not driving your mom crazy by arguing. I can only imagine what the two of you get up to these days but I imagine you still have a love of reading. I remember having to build you shelves because we all used to constantly trip over your books whenever anyone took a step into your room. I still have your copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, hopefully someday I'll be able to return it to you. I understand perfectly if you don't want to respond to this letter Grace, just know that I am here for you if you ever need me._

_Love always. _

_Dad._

* * *

Grace looked at the letter in her hand, over the years her father had sent countless to and her brother Dean but neither of them ever read. The letters were all returned unopened except for this one. It was one of the first letters that Grace had received after her mom had moved them away from Toronto to Dallas. For some reason Grace had decided to keep the letter, she had snuck it past her mother and hidden it in her memory box away from prying eyes and most of her all brother. Dean would lose his mind if he knew that Grace had kept one of their father's letters. Grace had had this letter for about eight years but she had never opened it until after her father Greg had turned up on their doorsteps several weeks ago. It had been eight years since Grace and Dean had last seen their father and their memories of him weren't the best for a reason. Their father had been a workaholic and an alcoholic who had no time for him family, Greg Parker had practically pushed his family out the door. Their mother Melissa had moved them out of Canada to get Grace and Dean away from Greg and since then they had minimal contact with their father until he showed on their door. Greg had claimed her was different but it had kind of fell a bit on deaf ears and the whole thing didn't end well. But it didn't stop Greg from trying, which is what brought Grace and Dean to Toronto to seek him out.

"You ready?"

Stuffing the letter back into her bag Grace glanced at her twin brother Dean and forced a smile at her face as she turned her attention back on to the building they were about to enter. It was the headquarters of the strategic response unit where their father work and they figured that they would find him here considering one of the few things they knew about their father was that he was a workaholic. Grace could feel butterflies in the pit of her stomach as she glanced at her brother. Dean had been the one who had wanted to do this and Grace had just tagged along out of sheer curiosity. Grace could barely remember anything about her father and she was a tiny bit interested. Not to mention there was no way in hell she was going to let her brother do this without her. "Yeah, I'm ready Dean…"

"There's no need to be scared Gracie." Dean assured and Grace narrowed at her brother, her brown her eyes meeting her brother's identical brown eyes.

"I'm not scared Dean, I'm slightly apprehensive about this whole thing. There is a _difference _I'll have you know. I'm pretty sure you were the one who was freaking out about this thing more than I was." Grace corrected which caused her brother to scoff and she felt slightly better, a little less nervous about the entire thing and so after taking a deep breath Grace took a step forward. The first step seemed to be the hardest but after that Grace found her feet walking on their own accord, matching the pace of her brother's as they entered the building and followed the signs and got into the elevator which took them upto the SRU.

The SRU looked very high tech and fancy and as soon as she stepped out with Dean, Grace could hear the quiet murmuring of voices, which were mostly male. Grace could feel her stomach tighten as now she was really nervous and she made a point of sticking very close to Dean as she felt small and exposed in this huge place. It was rather daunting to Grace so she shuffled quietly along with Dean over to the front desk where a woman was clearly on the phone speaking on a handset until she noticed the two teenagers who were anxiously waiting.

"Hi, can I help you? The woman asked with a small smile and Grace looked over at Dean as she was pretty sure that of she opened her mouth, nothing was going to come out. The nerves were very overwhelming and coupled with Grace's innate shyness, it meant that she wasn't going to be able to get a word out yet.

"Uh... Yeah." Dean began and Grace could hear the nerves as clear as day in her brother's voice, sure she had been teasing him about it a few minutes ago but this was a very big and scary thing for them to do. Especially Dean who was taking point on this one. "We're here to see Greg Parker."

"Sure, can I tell him who it is?"

"Yeah… Um, it's Dean and Grace Parker." Dean announced sounding a bit more confident but Grace could still here the nerves in her brother's voice.

"We're his kids." Grace quietly nodded and the woman nodded her head at them with a small smile and Grace noticed that her eyes darted across to something next towards the left of them. Grace turned her head and saw their father was already standing there, clearly surprised to see the two of them there and Grace tugged on the sleeve of her brother's jacket to get his attention and eventually she got it and Dean turned to their father as well. He had less hair then Grace had remembered and he looked a bit older, then there was the uniform.

"Hey…" Greg quietly said almost whispering and Grace could see her father's eyes darting from her and Dean, practically taking in every possible detail of them that he could. Almost as if he was imaging the two of them being here. The shock was still clear on his face and Grace wasn't sure what to do or even what to say. She had only tagged along with Dean for moral support as there was no way she could do what they had come to do, she didn't have the courage to do it. Hence why Dean was going to be the one to break the news to their father. "Hey."

"Uh, hey." Dean replied and Grace just awkwardly looked around as it seemed like none of them seemed to be able to pull a full sentence together and get it out. All any of them seemed to do was babble in rather awkward manner which was kind of avoidable given their estranged relationship.

"What are you both doing here? I mean, it's good to… I just didn't know that the two of you were coming down. It's good to see you both here and together." Greg said, eventually managing to get a somewhat complete sentence out and Grace forced herself to smile. Then the last thing that Grace was expecting to happen, actually happened. Her father reached out towards them and pulled the two of them into a hug. It was weird, there was no doubt about it as for Grace it was like a random stranger was hugging her despite the fact that she knew that this man was no stranger, her was hers and Dean's father. Grace couldn't remember the last time she had received a hug from her father but regardless it still felt oddly familiar despite the awkward atmosphere. As the hug went on Grace could make out her father's breathing, him trying to keep a hold on his emotions as her and Dean's sudden appearance had clearly knocked him for six. When their father finally let go of them, he didn't move away much. Looking them over and resting his hands on their shoulders momentarily, overwhelmed by the sight of the two of them together. Grace just wanted to flee there and then but she found her feet stuck to the ground. It wasn't the whole fight or flight situation, she just froze.

"W-We're visiting Shelby, our aunt…" Grace chocked out and she watched as her father nodded at then both.

"I know who Shelby is, but why didn't you tell me?" Greg asked which caused Grace and Dean to simultaneously look at each other, they didn't say anything to each other. They didn't need to as their eyes did all the talking for each other.

"We… We didn't want to call first, I thought I might back out and Grace just tagged alone with me." Dean stated and Grace just looked at their father, he didn't seem like the man she remembered. Greg seemed _different_, he seemed much more soft spoken and not in a constant bitter and tired mood like he used to be whenever he came. There was definitely something different about him, the same kind of difference that Grace picked up on in the sole letter of his that she had kept all these years. Maybe Greg Parker had changed after all these years.

"Does your mom know you're here?" Greg asked.

"No, she… She thinks that we're at the movies." Grace sheepishly admitted as she played with the ends of her French plait, carefully avoiding her father's gaze in case he decided to scold them for lying to their mother and sneaking off to see him when they all knew she wouldn't be happy if she knew where they were. Then there was the fact that Greg was also a cop.

"She doesn't know that you're both here…" Greg slowly said and Grace shifted around rather uncomfortably as she felt really bad about this know, right from the start she knew that this was a very bad idea. But there was nothing that she could do now as they were here.

"Do you think there's someplace we could go and talk?" Dean questioned and Greg nodded in an enthusiastic manner.

"Yeah! Yeah, c'mon." Greg stated with a smile as he led Grace and Dean past the front desk and an open space gym like area before the three of them entered a large conference room. Greg took a seat and motioned for Grace and Dean to take a seat but only Dean sat down. Grace awkwardly stood a meter away from her brother an anxiously looked around, her nerves were really getting to her now. Grace's stomach felt uneasy like it was going all topsy turvey. "Grace, you don't want to sit?"

"She can't sit. Grace can't keep still when she's nervous." Dean explained.

"I remember." Greg noted offering Grace a small smile which she couldn't return but she was struck by her father's kind nature, it was something that she hadn't seen in a very long time. For the last few years Grace had this perception of her father as this uncaring monster who was so wrapped up in himself and had no care for his family. But the man in front of her who was smiling? Seemed like a shadow of that man, a much more kinder person than what Grace could remember.

"Um… I… Look, this is hard too say but I have to say it… I really appreciate that you want to be back in touch but, it just won't work out. Grace and I have a family that we love and we were going along just fine. Now everybody has gotten upset since you filed that suit." Dean slowly explained his voice crackling every so slightly and Grace looked down at her shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world. "Look… We're sixteen years old and I don't want to be forced to have another father and I love him. We love him and I'm planning on taking his last name so I'm here asking you to drop the lawsuit. Please."

"Grace, is this want you want too?" Greg asked.

"I-I…" Grace stammered a she felt her face starting to burn up a sure sigh that she was blushing, It tended to happen when got embarrassed or flustered and now was a prime moment as she got flustered when she was put on the spot. This was what she wanted to avoid, this moment. Their father was hurt, it was clear in his eyes that he was crushed by the news. Grace wanted to be sick. Before Grace could respond to her father or be sick she was interrupted by the woman at the front desk calling out something before a loud alarm went off and her father rose from his seat and took off towards the door of the meeting room they were in.

"Winnie?" Greg called out.

"Shots fired in progress." Winnie replied and Grace looked up to see her father staring at her and Dean in a rather sheepish manner. She figured this was what their mom meant about their dad always having to take off because of his job. It was kind of the worst timing but what could Grace do about it? There was no point in complaining about it as it was already happening.

"I'm sorry, I've got to do this." Greg apologetically began.

"Yeah right. Of course you do, come on Gracie." Dean started as he rose from his seat and began to walk past their father and Grace slowly followed behind him. She didn't want to leave. Grace knew it wasn't thier dad's fault that he had to leave, he had a job and it wasn't like he could just take off an leave especially if gun shots had just gone off. Whilst most people's jobs weren't to respond to gunshots, Grace knew that it was her father's job to respond to them as after all he was a cop.

"No no, just wait here for me…" Greg pleaded as he kept up with the two of them and then moved so he was standing right in front of them. From the way he was looking at them as he pleaded for them to stay, Grace felt the tiniest of ache's in her heart. Their father wanted them to stay, he wanted to stay and be able to talk to them but he couldn't he had to go. Grace knew that Greg wasn't telling them to stay but rather he was asking them to stay, hoping that they would.

"We should really go."

"Please." Greg asked again with the same softly spoke tone of voice.

"All right." Grace answered before Dean could even say no to the idea, she wanted to stay and she knew that Dean wouldn't leave without her. So he was sticking around regardless of whether he wanted to or not.

"The movie's over in an hour." Dean added.

"All right, thanks." Greg replied with a small sort of relieved smile and Grace felt slightly better as her father turned to the female officer who was sitting at the front des. "Winnie?"

"I'll watch them."

"Feed me on the fly." Greg stated as he gave Grace a reassuring pat on the shoulder before taking off leaving her in front of Dean who clearly wanted an explanation.

"He deserves more than that. C'mon Dean, the least we could so is stick around until he gets back so we can all have a proper conversation about what just happened. We can't just turn up and have you drop the news on him and just leave. Greg's our dad and he's been making an effort so the least we can do is make a tiny effort with him on this." Grace quietly said, finally able to string a full sentence together without stammering once since her and Dean had stepped into the SRU.

"C'mon pull up a bench and hang with me." Winnie invited with welcoming smile and Grace accepted the invitation and began to walk over to the front desk to join Winnie with a reluctant Dean trailing behind her. And so the waiting began.


	2. Chapter 2

They had waited. Much longer than they had originally agreed on or anticipated but it was kind of hard to leave when they were overhearing what was going on which made Grace glad that her and Dean had stuck around the SRU. Sitting with Winnie and listening to her father working with his team trying to save that little girl was the most nerve wracking and yet adrenaline experience that Grace had ever been through. Hearing those gunshots and not knowing who had shot them and if anyone had been hurt or even worse killed was pretty daunting. Grace didn't have the most active imagination in the world but her imagination had been kind of running wild as she tried to picture what was going on outside whilst her and Dean were inside with Winnie. Grace had always know that her father had been a cop, she had known that for as long as she could remember but she hadn't know the know the extent of the job. Winnie had explained that as Sergeant, her father was overall leader of Team One and he was the primarily negotiator on the team. As Grace listened to her father work, she started to understand what Winnie had told her as it seemed like her father had a skill for reading people and talking to them. It was a far cry from the angry alcoholic that Grace used to know, the man who had practically pushed his family out of the door and to another country to get away from him. This version of Greg Parker was kinder, warmer and somebody who Grace didn't quite recognize. Grace knew that her father hadn't always been the man who she remember, it was just a result of him feeling the need to constantly work and his alcoholism. Before all that came he was a loving husband and father, then everything changed and Grace no longer recognized her father. The same thing could be said about the Greg Parker that Grace was currently looking at now, sure he looked and sounded the same as always. But she knew didn't know him, she hadn't in a long time and yet he seemed so familiar but not similar as in the angry workaholic and alcoholic father that Grace could remember. Rather the father that Grace used to know, a very long time ago.

"You haven't lost your job or anything like that? Have you because of what happened today?" Grace wearily asked as she smacked away Dean's hand as he tried to steal a piece of the salad. Winnie had explained to Grace and Dean that their father had used lethal force to save the little girl his team had been looking for and as such he had to talk with the Special Investigations Unit about the shooting, straight after it had happened which is why he had taken so long to back. When their father had finally came back to the SRU he had been surprised to see them both still there and they had offered to take them out for pizza. Dean had other ideas and suggested that he would cook for them and so the three of them were back at his apartment.

"No. I just had to have a debrief with Special Investigations about the shooting and explain that Alexis' life was in imminent danger and whilst the SRU is tasked to resolve extreme situations without the use of deadly force, sometimes we do have to use it if there is no solution." Greg replied in a reassuring manner. "I'll have to attend the coroner's inquest in a while but I haven't lost my job, the SIU have to investigate but they will conclude that the use of lethal force was justified."

"I'm glad… Well not that you had to kill someone but I'm glad that the little girl is okay and safe now. I can't imagine what it's been like for her, going on the run because some guy wants to kill because she witnessed a crime. All this time she should have been outside playing with friends instead of running and hiding." Grace quietly stated as she eyed up her father briefly, for someone who had shot someone dead only hours ago he seemed to calm about it. But Grace rationalized that this might not have been the first time and it wasn't like Greg had killed the man in cold blood. He was a cop and had made a judgment call which had saved the life of a ten year old girl.

"At least Alexis and her family won't have to run anymore." Dean added.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to sit around the barn for so long, it's just that Team One were on call and e had to respond. At the time I didn't know how long it would take or that I would end up with SIU." Greg attempted to explain and Grace just waved his apology off or rather began to until she noticed that she had a knife in the hand that she was waving about so she promptly put said hand back down.

"It's fine. You know your job is your job and it's not the kind of job where you can get someone to cover for you on the last second. You had to go and because you did, you saved that girl's life. Plus it was petty cool sitting with Winnie and listening to what was happening…" Grace said with a small smile.

"You wasn't saying that a couple of hours ago Gracie, you nerves were so fraud that at one point you were wound up tighter than a spring." Dean pointed out and Grace just glared at him.

"It's called reacting like a normal person Dean so forgive me for getting a bit tense when I hear several gunshots over a radio." Grace retorted as she stuck her tongue out at her brother and Dean quickly stuck his tongue out and moments later she heard laughing coming from right in front of her and she turned to see her father laughing at the both of them.

"It's just nice to see you both together, I remember when the two of you were really young that you'd be playing with each other one moment and then fighting the next. It was always over some toy that you'd both want and you'd fight over it for longest time before forgetting what you were fighting over and go back to playing with each other like nothing had happened." Greg explained and Grace looked at Dean and moments later they both started to laugh, the two of them almost fought. It was just atypical brother and sister thing and the arguments they had were always petty and never seemed to last for more than a few hours.

"We still argue quite a bit and mom tells us off about it saying that we shouldn't be like that towards each other because of the whole twins thing. But the arguing thing is inevitably considering how much time we spend with each so the arguing tends to happen because we press each others buttons frequently. But whilst Gracie tends to drive me crazy, I like having her around." Dean admitted with a shy and nervous smile and Grace noted the proud yet sad smile that was on their father's face. No doubt he felt bad about not being around these last eight years. "Sentimental idiot." Grace quipped with a small smirk before she gently nudged her brother.

"Now go wash up for dinner, I'll be nice and dish everything up since I cooked most of it as you can barely boil pasta."

"Very funny Grace." Dean sneered in an amused manner before walking off in the direction of the bathroom, leaving Grace alone with their father and as Grace began to start dishing up the food her eyes couldn't help but keep wondering over to her father's. She was trying to figure him out but it was kind of hard to, probably due to the fact that he spent most of his days reading people. It was rather annoying.

"Grace whatever it is you want to say or ask me, go ahead… I know you might feel uneasy given how long it's been since we've last seen each other but I want you to know that you can say anything to me. No matter what it is." Greg stated and Grace opened her mouth in shock at first as she had no idea how her father knew that. Until she remembered that this was part of her dad's job and clearly he had picked something up off of her.

"Am I that obvious?" Grace wearily questioned with a weak smile

"Yeah I'm afraid so." Greg replied as he pointed to Grace's hand which she kept switching from fidgeting with to being bunched up with a fist. Grace couldn't help but frown, she hated the fact that she had such a tell tell sign for when she was nervous about something. People could tell from a mile off when something was wrong with her, Dean especially as he knew when something was bothering Grace before she started displaying the whole nervous twitch she had going on.

"You seem different. Well from what I can remember and even then that's not much to begin with as I've purposely tried not to remember when we used to live here. I don't really know as the psychobabble is more your thing then it is mine but you just seem different from the man who I've had in my head. I see someone different, someone much more soft spoken, calm and gentler than I can previously remember." Grace quietly said.

"Is it a good thing? Me being different." Greg hesitantly asked and Grace slowly nodded her head. "Yeah I think so. I kind of had a cross between the boogeyman and one of those rigid cops in my head over the last few years in my head. I'm not really sure why but that doesn't seem to be you. I look at you and I see something different from what I'm been convincing myself of these last few years. My memory may be a bit hazy over what went on all those years ago but I know enough that things weren't good. That you were different back then and it was bad enough that mom left with Dean and I because of the person you were then, because of the alcohol and everything else you had going on." Grace quietly admitted in a rather awkward manner.

"I did a lot of things back then that I regret now Grace, everyday I have regretted what I did to hurt you, your mom and Dean because you were the most important people in my life and I hurt you all. The people I love the most and it took losing you three for me to take a long hard look in the mirror. I know I can only say this to you and may not mean much but I'm not the man I was back then. I have changed, I don't drink anymore." Greg said and Grace looked into her father's eyes searching for any sign of deceit but she couldn't see anyone. But that didn't mean that she instantly believed him or that they could start playing happy families again but Greg was clearly making an effort with both her and Dean. Taking a deep breath Grace walked over to her bag and pulled out the crumpled letter than she had stuffed back into her bag earlier and handed it over to Greg. "What is this?"

"I've kept this. It's the only letter that you sent that I kept and I only opened it after you came down to Dallas to try and see us. It's why I came with Dean today, I wanted to see if you truly were sorry about what happened like your letters made you out to be and I think you are. Or I want to think you are but you have to show me that you really are sorry, that you want to be a dad again as letters can only do so much…"


End file.
